Government’s failure to gazette drought-stricken regions will exacerbate crisis
The DA is deeply concerned that some provincial government’s appear to have failed to gazette provincial disaster declarations despite facing crippling droughts. The irresponsible provincial governments of KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga and Limpopo must immediately gazette these declarations and then submit their disaster funding requests to the National Treasury in order for funds to be released to mitigate the decline of crops and other food sources that South Africans depend on for survival.
As such the DA will write to the Speaker of the National Assembly (NA), Baleka Mbete, requesting that she establish an ad hoc committee in terms of Rule 214(1) of the NA Rules. This committee must summon before it the departments of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries; Water and Sanitation; Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs; Rural Development and Land Reform; as well the Department of Finance to brief it on the extent of the drought, provincial funding requests and immediate action steps being taken. The purpose of the committee would be to make recommendations towards mitigating the damage this drought is inflicting on our communities.
A statement released by the National Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) confirmed that it had received disaster declaration confirmations from the North West and the Free State. However it is astounding that no such declaration confirmations have been received from KwaZulu- Natal, Mpumalanga and Limpopo.
Farmers in KwaZulu-Natal are already reported to have lost 30 000 heads of cattle alone this year as a result of the province’s driest year in over a century. Subsistence farmers are expected to lose 60% of their herds within the next few weeks. Furthermore, if it does not rain in the next week, farmers in affected provinces are expected to lose their entire season’s crop. Looking at these figures the DA is dumbfounded at the provincial government's failure to gazette disaster declarations. The implications of this have dire consequences for the farming and rural communities that desperately need aid to prevent the collapse of rural economies and livelihoods.
Disaster declarations are required prior to provinces submitting funding requests to National Treasury through the National Disaster Management Centre. Furthermore, the Industrial Development Corporation and Land Bank’s plans to assist affected farmers by providing, inter alia, soft loans can only be granted following disaster declarations being made in terms of the Disaster Management Act, 2002.
It is of utmost importance that money is urgently released to assist all communities affected by the lack of water that has been severely compounded by poor management on the part of government. It is time that government acknowledges that our nation’s food security is now at serious risk. Furthermore, the government needs to be conscious of the effect this drought will have on food prices, which the poorest households will feel the most. Job losses facing the sector will also be a tragic consequence in a nation where unemployment figures are already staggering.
Issued by Annette Steyn, DA Shadow Minister of Agriculture, Forestry & Fisheries, 5 November 2015
